Liver Baby Ryan And Family Get A Warm Welcome Home

July 20, 1985|By Ruth Rasche of The Sentinel Staff

MELBOURNE — Friends, relatives and a few strangers came to the Melbourne Regional Airport Friday to welcome home Ryan Osterblom, the 18-month-old Indialantic boy who had a lifesaving liver transplant in April.

Ryan's mother, Karen, wept as she carried the boy off the plane and saw the throng of well-wishers who were laden with balloons and banners.

''He's a miracle,'' she told the crowd. ''We're so glad to be home.''

For the past six weeks, Mrs. Osterblom and Ryan have been living at the Ronald McDonald House near the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh where Ryan underwent a liver transplant April 5. The toddler suffered from biliary atresia, which doctors said would have been fatal had Ryan not received the liver of a 9-month-old Chicago boy after a nationwide search for a donor.

As Ryan, his parents, two sisters and brother greeted their family and friends at the gate, several others waited for more than an hour in the airport lobby to give their regards to the boy they do not know, but care deeply about.

''We don't know Ryan, but anyone who's given a second chance to live is very special,'' said Rosalind Dean of Melbourne, who brought her two young children to the airport to welcome the tot. ''I felt it was important for my kids to see this -- they're so fortunate, they're healthy.''

Six-year-old Shannon Lowry and his mother, Chris, came from Melbourne Beach to give Ryan their brightly wrapped present, a Care Bear book.

''He doesn't know us, but we've been praying for Ryan since the beginning,'' Mrs. Lowry said. ''Ryan's too young to read the book, but we know now he'll be able to grow into it.''

Mrs. Osterblom said Ryan is full of energy, so much so that he was ripping up magazines during the flight from Pittsburgh. He loves to eat french fries, ice cream and chocolate cake, and is gradually beginning to pull himself up to take his first steps, she said.

''At first I felt like I'd like to keep him in a glass house, but the doctors have told us he'll live a normal life,'' Mrs. Osterblom said. The boy will have monthly check-ups in Gainesville, but will have to return to the hospital in Pittsburgh only once a year for regular examinations, she said.